Dustin Johnson leads by one after two unusual days at Riviera
If you haven’t been turned off by all the starts and stops, if you have plenty of endurance, then settling in for a near two rounds of play in the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club could be one way to fill your entire Sunday.
It could be hotly contested or Dustin Johnson , with his rock-solid consistent play, could run away with things.
Johnson, who hasn’t had a bogey in 23 holes, is at 10 under par and holds a one-shot lead after two-and-a-fraction rounds. Pat Perez, who like Johnson shot a 66 on Saturday, and Cameron Tringale, who holed out on No. 18 from 82 yards for birdie, are at nine under.
If you add in Johnson’s at-the-top experience (12 wins including the U.S. Open last year) and the lack of such by his two closest competitors (two wins — both by Perez — in 582 starts), it’s easy to make a case for Johnson being the man to beat over the final two rounds.
One shot might not seem like a big lead, but Johnson’s aversion to trouble has been remarkable. He hit an excellent 15 of 18 greens in regulation during the second round.
“I feel like I hit a lot of really good shots today,” Johnson said. “I didn’t really make any of the short birdie putts but rolled in a nice 30-footer on four and that one on 15 was really good and then 17. … And then on 18, to roll in a nice 20-footer was big to give me a little momentum going into the third round.”
His birdies came on No. 1 (two-foot putt), No. 4 (38 feet), No. 15 (36 feet), No. 17 (nine inches) and No. 18 (20 feet).
There are still a lot of shots to hit in Sunday’s near double round and things can go bad. For example, Sam Saunders, who led after the first round by two shots, ballooned to a 77 in the second round, leaving him nine shots behind Johnson and making the cut by one.
The tournament, delayed Thursday because of fog, Friday because of a horrific storm, and Saturday morning to clean up after Friday’s weather, was able to get a handful of golfers off for their third round before play was suspended at 5:43 p.m. because of darkness.
Eleven players, including those atop the leaderboard, did not start the third round Saturday. There is virtually no margin for error to finish the tournament before the sun goes down. In order to save some time, they will not re-pair the groups between the third and fourth rounds.
Play will resume Sunday morning at 6:50. Johnson, Perez and Tringale are scheduled to tee off around 7.
Jhonattan Vegas, Patrick Rogers and J.T. Poston are three back at seven under.
Scott Brown, Charley Hoffman, Luke Donald and Kevin Na finished the second round at six under. Joining them at that number, having started the third round, were Wesley Bryan (after four holes), Matt Kuchar (one), Branden Grace (one), Jason Kokrak (one), Anirban Lahiri (one) and Ollie Schniederjans (one). All of them birdied the first hole.
Ten players were at five under.
Vegas offered the best explanation of how the water-logged course was playing Saturday.
“It’s definitely playing a little longer,” Vegas said. “I also think it’s going to play a little harder. Just to give an example, on 18 I hit a pitching wedge on [Friday] and I hit a three-iron [on Saturday].
If there is someone back in the pack capable of a big rally it is Jordan Spieth at five under. He won last week’s tournament at Pebble Beach.
“Yeah, [my second round] was solid given what we had and the way I drove the ball,” Spieth said. “I hit it short and crooked these two-and-a-half days and was able to shoot five under. … We’ll just try and do something special on the weekend.”
The cut was even par. Among those not sticking around were Vijay Singh (one over), Brandt Snedeker (two over), Hideki Matsuyama (six over) and Ernie Els (six over). Defending champion Bubba Watson withdrew before play began. He was eight over with two holes to play in round two.
Playing 36 holes might be daunting to a weekend player, but it’s really nothing to the pros.
“Thirty-six holes can be a really good thing sometimes if you’re playing really well,” Johnson said. “My golf game, I’m in control of it right now. So playing 36 in one day is not going to be a problem. … [I need to get] off to a good start and try and keep it rolling all day.”
If Johnson is right about his game, it will be a problem to the 70 golfers trying to chase him.
UPDATES:
1:35 p.m.: This article has been updated to include updated tournament leaders.
12:35 p.m.: This article has been updated to include new tournament leaders.
11:55 a.m.: This article has been updated with completion of the second round by some players.
This article was originally published at 9:05 a.m.
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